Lan Yan dragged the beautiful young woman over to Shen Luolun and Su Qing.
"We've caught her. What should we do with her?"
"Hand her over to the Millelith, or just... finish her off!"
She drew a finger across her throat.
The beautiful woman glared coldly at the three of them.
"Kill me, and I won't let you off even as a ghost!"
"How dare you act so arrogant when you're about to die."
Lan Yan slapped her across the face.
She held nothing back.
Born into a family of sorcerers, she had naturally strong perception and could see things ordinary people could not. The woman before her was surrounded by a bloody, murderous aura, with astonishing resentment clinging to her. She had surely committed countless murders, and her crimes deserved death!
More importantly, the woman had also made an enemy of them, and now one side would not rest until the other was dead. Someone like her did not deserve mercy.
A bright red handprint quickly appeared on the beautiful woman's fair face. Never having been treated so rudely before, she cried in fury:
"How dare you hit me! I'll kill you!"
Smack-
Lan Yan slapped her again.
This time, blood ran from the corner of her mouth.
"If you dare speak so rudely again, I don't mind letting passersby 'admire' you on the street in your most 'frank' appearance."
The beautiful woman stared at her venomously, but did not dare speak again.
Clearly, she was afraid.
"You decide."
Su Qing cupped his hands, his eyes red.
"Miss Lan Yan, could you let me execute her myself? My brothers and friends all died at her hands. If I don't kill her myself, I'll never ease the hatred in my heart!"
"From now on, whatever you ask of me, Miss Lan Yan, I, Su Qing, will not refuse, even if I must climb a mountain of blades or plunge into a sea of fire!"
He had learned their names while talking to Shen Luolun earlier, so he made his request.
Lan Yan looked at Shen Luolun.
Shen Luolun nodded indifferently.
"There's no need to climb mountains of blades or plunge into seas of fire. Go ahead."
A Treasure Hoarder with blood on her hands deserved to die. Her death was no loss.
"Thank you, Miss Lan Yan, Young Master Shen."
Gratitude showed on Su Qing's face, but it quickly turned cold. He picked up the bloodstained dagger from the ground and walked toward the beautiful woman.
"Beast, did you ever think this day would come?"
"Today, I'll avenge my dead crew!"
He raised the dagger and stabbed it fiercely toward her.
The beautiful woman showed no fear. Instead, she sneered.
"Who said they were dead? I didn't kill them."
The dagger stopped a hair's breadth from her chest.
"What did you say?" Su Qing asked in shock.
"Didn't you steal my ship and kill everyone on board?"
"Did you see me kill anyone with your own eyes?"
"..."
It seemed he really had not.
At most, Su Qing had seen her injure and capture people.
As for killing...
He truly had no memory of it.
"Then where are my crewmen?"
"Are they still alive? Where are they?!"
he asked urgently.
"Of course they're alive. Let me go, and I'll let them go." The beautiful woman raised her chin arrogantly.
"Kill me, and they'll all die!"
"..."
Su Qing looked at Lan Yan and Shen Luolun.
The decision was theirs.
Lan Yan said, "It's hard to tell whether you're telling the truth. Who knows if you're just saying this to save your life?"
Shen Luolun said, "Right. Nasty people like her are at their craftiest when death is staring them in the face. We can't trust her."
The beautiful woman bit her rosy lip.
"Everything I said is true. I didn't kill them. I locked them up somewhere, and if I don't return, my people will definitely kill them."
Shen Luolun spread his hands.
"One question: what guarantee can you give us?"
"If we let you go, we'll probably all face your revenge."
"I..."
The beautiful woman clearly did not want to die, but she had no way to prove what she said. She could hardly tell them where the crewmen were hidden; then she would have no bargaining chip left to keep herself alive.
Suddenly, she spotted the jade pendant at Lan Yan's waist.
"You're... from the Lan Clan?"
The beautiful woman recognized the jade pendant as a token unique to members of the Lan Clan. She had dealt with the clan before and remembered it somewhat.
"What? You want to bring up someone from the Lan Clan to plead for you? Let me tell you, no chance!" Lan Yan said coldly.
Never mind that she knew someone from the Lan Clan.
Even if the head of the Lan Clan, Lan Yan's father, came today, this woman could not be let off so easily.
"...No. What I mean is, you're from the Lan Clan. That family specializes in sorcery, so you should know how to use restrictions, right? Put a restriction on me. If I'm lying, you can simply activate it and kill me."
"Well..."
Lan Yan hesitated.
Shen Luolun nudged his good friend's arm and asked quietly:
"Hey, you really know an evil sorcery restriction like that?"
Placing restrictions on people to control and kill them seemed rather like something a villain would do.
Surely their good girl Lan Yan did not look like a villain, no matter how one looked at her?
"What evil sorcery restriction? That's just worldly prejudice."
"Whoa, so you really do know one?"
"What do you think?"
"..."
Looking at Lan Yan's dangerous smile, Shen Luolun silently crossed her off his list of good girls.
Was Sister Yan a good girl?
Don't make Sister Yan laugh.
"All right, then I'll place a restriction on you."
The beautiful woman breathed a sigh of relief.
"Wait!"
Shen Luolun suddenly spoke up.
Her heart leaped into her throat again.
"What is it?"
"No, I'm still a little worried."
"What if she's creating a diversion and deliberately setting a trap to take us down with her?"
"After all, criminals backed into a corner are best at playing pitiful. She's been doing evil for so long. Would she really be willing to let you control her with a restriction?"
Lan Yan thought about it.
That really was possible.
"You're right. To be safe, let's just chop her up and be done with it."
The beautiful woman: ???
Did I say all that for nothing?
"You-"
She glared at Shen Luolun hatefully.
Is this guy just naturally at odds with me?
But Shen Luolun suddenly changed tack:
"Still, on second thought, what if everything she said is true and she really did hide those crewmen away? If we kill her, the crewmen will die too, so we still need to be careful."
"Then what do you want to do?" Lan Yan asked.
Shen Luolun stroked his chin and looked the woman up and down before saying:
"How about we train her into an obedient sow first?"
Lan Yan: ???
Su Qing: ???
The beautiful woman: ?Σ⊙▃⊙川
"I'll kill you!"
The beautiful woman lunged at him in fury.
He actually treated her like a sow?
Thud-
Shen Luolun kicked her squarely in the chest.
He knocked her to the ground.
"Criminals have no right to get angry."
The beautiful woman lay facedown on the ground, her pretty face covered in dust, her beautiful eyes fixed fiercely on him.
Shen Luolun suddenly remembered something.
"Right, I think I forgot to ask your name."
"Hey, what's your name?"
The beautiful woman said nothing and merely glared at him viciously, clearly unwilling to cooperate.
"Not talking, huh?"
"All right, then."
Shen Luolun nodded and said:
"Stinking bitch."
"What did you say?!"
The beautiful woman's eyes widened. No one had ever dared speak to her like that.
"Believe me, I'll kill you!"
"Sow!"
"Say that again?!"
"Once isn't enough? Sow, sow, sow-"
"Aaaaah! I'll kill you!"
The beautiful woman twisted desperately, trying to bite someone to death like a snake in a game of Snake.
Unfortunately, it was futile.
Shen Luolun planted a foot on her face.
Her body writhed like a maggot.
"Trash. You can't even take a little trash talk. You might as well just die."
Shen Luolun loved bullying bad people most of all.
Especially bad people too weak to truss a chicken.
He felt no guilt at all playing with them.
Heh heh heh.
"I'll kill you! Kill you!"
Even with her mouth full of dirt, the beautiful woman still refused to yield, shouting that she would kill Shen Luolun.
Shen Luolun curled his lip.
"All you ever say is 'kill, kill, kill.' Can't you come up with something else?"
It was obvious she did not know how to curse people.
Afraid the woman would suffocate, he kept his foot there for a while before lifting it.
The moment he did, the beautiful woman lunged at him again like a mad dog.
Fortunately, Lan Yan pulled her back in time with the other end of the rope.
Shen Luolun suddenly smiled.
He smiled like a villain.
He crouched down, patted the beautiful woman's face, and taunted:
"What's the point of trying to get in my face now?"
"Idiot! If you won't tell me your real name, what am I supposed to call you if not sow?"
"..."
Seeing that the beautiful young woman remained silent, Shen Luolun was about to continue humiliating her.
An extremely faint voice, almost inaudible, reached him.
"Yinyue."
"What? Is someone talking?"
"Yinyue!"
She was louder this time.
The corners of Shen Luolun's mouth rose.
"I can't hear you. Louder."
The beautiful young woman felt utterly humiliated, but to keep him from calling her a sow, she had no choice but to suppress her anger and raise her voice:
"Yinyue, my name is Yinyue!!!"
"Mm~ all right, sow."
"You-!"
The beautiful young woman's eyes were practically shooting fire.
"I already told you my name is Yinyue!"
"Don't call me... sow anymore."
She said the last two words very softly, as though they embarrassed her.
Shen Luolun gave a contemptuous laugh.
"What does your name being Yinyue have to do with me calling you a sow?"
"I'll call you that if I want. What can you do about it?"
"You! I already told you my name, and you're still humiliating me on purpose. Believe it or not, I'll kill you," the beautiful young woman said furiously.
"Oh, my, I'm so scared."
Shen Luolun gave a cheeky grin.